


What You Know

by PrinceSkylar



Series: Taking Care Of Things [8]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Absent Parents, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anger, Angst, Awkwardness, Bad Dads, Bad Parenting, Daddy Issues, Family Drama, Family Feels, Kibas father (OC), Mentions of Teen Pregnancy, Other, Past Relationship(s), Relationship Issues, bad parental unit, kibas dad (OC), sad boy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 06:49:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14075304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceSkylar/pseuds/PrinceSkylar
Summary: This time, when he paused to take in the sight of his father's home, Kiba knew what feelings to expect to wash over him. He wasn't blind sided by the surprise, by the anger and the anxiety that tried to swallow him whole. Being braced a little more than before helped a little, kept him steady on his feet as he bit his lip. He still couldn't stop himself from wondering what was going on behind those walls, though, but this time he told himself that he would know soon enough. It was a terrifying thought but there was a small sliver of comfort twined with the anxiety this time. He'd have information, more than he arrived with, and that was the whole goal of his journey anyways, right?Or; Kiba's got nothing left to lose by seeing his dad by now, right?





	What You Know

**Author's Note:**

> This is kinda sorter than I hoped. I've got some really bad family issues right now so the next part after this might take a bit longer to be posted. I apologize in advance.  
> But yeah, here's the feels. Enjoy.

He had the worst headache of his life. It felt like there were claws digging into every inch of his brain, squeezing harder and harder every few minutes just for the sake of reminding him it was still there. He deserved it, he supposed, after last night. Gaara was already gone when Kiba came downstairs in the morning, something Kiba was thankful for; after his meltdown with Kankuro he wasn't eager to know what Gaara thought about it. Kiba hadn't come down at all last night after he went upstairs, lying in his room with Akamaru and not even coming down for dinner, either. It was rude, he knew, but every time he tried to convince himself to go down stairs his legs would give out on him as if some force of fate was telling him  _absolutely not_. So now, coming downstairs and taking in the silence of the house Kiba was thankful for the unnerving quiet for the first time in a while. Kankuro might have been awake already and if he was he wasn't down here, wasn't eager to see Kiba's face. Not that Kiba blamed him at all. Kiba didn't want to look at himself either, really, but he couldn't avoid that very much while he got himself ready for the day.

He shuffled through the house to let Akamaru out into the yard, watching him sniff around in the garden for a little bit before the both of them made their way to the kitchen. Akamaru's bowl was filled, probably from Gaara before he left, and the dog didn't waste any time diving into his food. Kiba felt bad about that too; Akamaru had stayed in the room with him all night without eating his own dinner, too. Kiba felt awful about that and made a mental note to make it up to the big guy later when his own head wasn't as mixed up as it was.

He should have been eating something too but his stomach hated him. He didn't want to throw up or waste any food in the house; he could wait. He had too much to do today, he decided. He was going to face his dad today even if he had to have Akamaru drag him there by the back of his shirt. If he waited any longer he was worried he'd fuck up something else and at this point, he really didn't have the emotional strength for that. He'd go even if he had to crawl or be drug there because he wasted enough time already. Too many people were waiting for him to do this.

When Akamaru was done eating Kiba gestured for him to follow him out of the kitchen, a wave of dread washing over him when he saw Kankuro leaning against the wall by the front door. He was wearing his usual black outfit again, hat on and face painted up. The paint threw Kiba off for just a second but he didn't let his eyes linger too long. The second Kankuro's gaze met his Kiba tore his eyes away, running a hand through his hair as he went over to pull on his shoes. Akamaru was looking from Kiba to Kankuro, anxiety rolling off of him in waves almost as big as Kiba's own. Kiba tried to ignore it, tried to ignore the awkward silence between them as he pulled his shoes on. He had hoped he wouldn't see Kankuro until after he got back so that way he could have at least a little less stress on his mind when he saw his dad. Nothing seemed to go his way, though. Not that he expected it too anyways, really. He felt a little too bitter right now, unsure if it was his lack of sleep or his irritation at himself making him feel like this. Either way, he hated it. He hated feeling so upset especially when it was something he did that set him off in the first place. He  _knew_  seeing Kankuro would make him fell all kinds of messed up.

Kiba steeled his nerves as he opened the front door, finally looking at Kankuro from the corner of his eye. "Are you going out?"

"With you, yeah." Kankuro muttered, pushing away from the wall. He didn't really look directly at Kiba, either. He kept his gaze averted in an attempt to avoid meeting Kiba's eye again.

Kiba had to fight to keep his expression somewhat neutral. Kankuro still wanted to go with him when he saw his dad, worried for Kiba's emotional well-being even after Kiba had practically stomped on his heart last night. It was sweet in theory, sure, but it just made Kiba feel awful, like the worst guy on the planet. He didn't deserve that kind of kindness after the way he acted and yet here Kankuro was, following him out of the house to make sure he was able to keep an eye on Kiba in case anything went south during this meeting. Because Kankuro was a sweet guy and Kiba really, really wanted to bury himself in the sand for the rest of his life.

They didn't talk to each other as they walked down the street. Kankuro wasn't walking at his side like he used to, either, instead following behind Kiba by a foot or two. It wasn't a lot of space in all actuality but compared to how close Kankuro had been to him since he arrived in Suna it felt like there were miles between them. Miles Kiba didn't have the strength to cross. He could feel the other's gaze on his back, though, almost as if Kankuro's eyes were trying to drill a hole between his shoulder blades. It made his chest tight like the day before, as if he were going to drop down to the sand again and have another panic attack.

The heat wasn't too bad this morning, maybe only a few degrees cooler than the day before but Kiba welcomed it. The heat mixing with his emotional turmoil really wasn't a good thing and he'd take whatever slight decrease in heat he could get. He wasn't so sure if Kankuro would be as eager to peel him off the ground this time as he was the night before, after all.

This time, when he paused to take in the sight of his father's home, Kiba knew what feelings to expect to wash over him. He wasn't blind sided by the surprise, by the anger and the anxiety that tried to swallow him whole. Being braced a little more than before helped a little, kept him steady on his feet as he bit his lip. He still couldn't stop himself from wondering what was going on behind those walls, though, but this time he told himself that he would  _know_  soon enough. It was a terrifying thought but there was a small sliver of comfort twined with the anxiety this time. He'd have information, more than he arrived with, and that was the whole goal of his journey anyways, right?

"You gonna go this time?" Kankuro's voice startled him a little bit, ripping him from his thoughts and dragging him back to his current location. Kiba blinked a few times and looked over at the other, meeting Kankuro's gaze. The puppet master looked...tired. Like he hadn't slept either, like he had a million thoughts running through his mind just like Kiba did. When Kiba didn't answer right away Kankuro sighed, crossing his arms as he looked back towards the house in front of them. "No one's rushing you. Take your time."

"I've taken enough time." Kiba murmured. He was walking before he really realized it, his feet carrying him towards the front door of his fathers home. Akamaru and Kankuro were following him, a small comfort in his mind, and when he was standing in front of the door he paused for just a second before he brought his hand up and knocked. Loud and sudden, that's how his knock sounded. It made him flinch a bit as his hand fell to his side.

Beyond the door he heard some shuffling and muffled footsteps, his heart in his throat. He wanted to run. He wanted to run and not look back. He wanted to be back in Konoha where everything was familiar and nothing was this  _fucking hard_. He couldn't run, though, even if it was all his mind could scream at him to do. The door opened after a few seconds that felt like forever, and Kiba's breath caught in his throat.

Even though Kiba's memories of the man were faint and fleeting, the second his eyes landed on the man before him he knew without a doubt this was his father. Broad shouldered still, at this age, and his black hair graying in some places much like the beard on his face. He was tall, too, which wasn't something Kiba had really remembered. Tall and broad, long graying black hair tied behind his back and his eyes, those dark brown eyes that looked Kiba up and down with surprise, maybe even a little bit of hesitation. He looked older than his pictures, of course. The graying hair, the laugh lines in his face and the crows feet at the corner of his eyes. He looked just like his pictures and yet entirely different, like a stranger Kiba had been seeing for years in passing and was finally able to get a good look. It made Kiba's heart stutter, his mouth dry and his hands shaking just slightly. The man's brown eyes drifted just low enough for Kiba to know he was looking at the markings on his cheeks, and then his eyes widened just a little.

"You're an Inuzuka from Konoha." That voice was deep, laced with hesitation and confusion. Just hearing his voice made Kiba want to slide into the sand and fight for his breath. He wished he could remember his voice from when he was a child so he could compare it, could try and pick out the difference in it now that the man was older.

Kiba jolted a bit when Akamaru nudged his arm with his nose and suddenly Kiba was nodding, forcing his voice to stay stable as he spoke up. "I am. Are you Kenzo Teruhiko?"

If the man didn't look cautious before, he certainly did now at the mention of his original last name. "I am, but I haven't gone by Teruhiko since I got married." He admitted, cocking his head. He eyed Akamaru, and then he eyed Kankuro, knowing who he was without asking. The presence of the Kazekage's brother seemed to startle him enough to snap his attention to Kiba again. "Who are you?"

Kiba hesitated once again, fists clenching at his sides. He wasn't dizzy like he thought he would be, but his mind was racing. All of his thoughts were jumbled together into an unidentifiable mess, like word vomit without anything actually leaving his mouth. He cleared his throat once, taking a deep breath before he managed to find his voice again. "My name is Kiba."

Dark brown eyes widened, Kenzo's jaw going slack for a moment as he looked Kiba up and down again. He knew. He knew who Kiba was, knew that this was his son standing in front of him in Suna after years of hiding. Kiba couldn't really tell if there was anger or fear or anything else in the man's expression but he knew the surprise, knew the moment the realization sunk in. Kenzo took a breath, grip on the knob of his front door tightening a bit. "Kiba. Ah..." He hesitated for just a second before he held the door open wider. "Manners, manners...come in, please. If you want to, that is."

Kiba glanced over his shoulder at Kankuro and Akamaru. Kankuro eyed Kenzo for just a second before his gaze switched to Kiba and softened just a little. "I'll hang out here with Akamaru. We'll wait for you."

Kiba nodded and reached up to stroke Akamaru's head gently to try and ease the dog's worry. "It's okay, big guy. Behave out here with Kankuro, alright? I'll be back soon."

Akamaru whimpered softly, ducking his head to lick at Kiba's face before he took a few steps back to stand beside Kankuro. Kiba sighed and eyed Kankuro and before he could say anything Kankuro held a hand up to stop him. He shook his head once. Just once. "Go on. We'll be here."

Walking into his father's house felt strange. Seeing the pictures on the walls as he followed Kenzo down the hall was even stranger. Pictures of Kenzo when he was younger with who Kiba only assumed was his wife, a gorgeous woman with orange hair and striking green eyes. There were other pictures too, pictures of Kenzo with other sand ninja; team mates, probably. Pictures of Kenzo with two kids as well, kids who were probably around Kiba's age now, maybe just a bit younger. They looked like Kenzo's wife, orange haired with bright and striking green eyes. He was happy in all of these pictures and that made Kiba's stomach churn again, this time more violently than ever before.

Kenzo led him to the kitchen, gesturing for Kiba to take a seat at the table. "I was making tea. Would you like some?"

Kiba sat down slowly, almost mechanically. "No...no thanks. I'm alright."

Kenzo nodded, just once, and went over to take the tea kettle off the burner. He poured himself a cup and Kiba watched him, taking in every movement of those broad shoulders and committing them to his memory. Those were the same shoulders Kiba had rode around on when he was just a baby, before he could even walk or talk. He had to look away, staring down at the table as he listened to Kenzo pull out the chair across from him on the other side of the table and sit down. Kiba wasn't sure what to say, where to even begin...

"I see you've grown up well." Kenzo said softly.

Kiba paused, taken back, and shrugged a little bit. "I...guess so, yeah.

"Are you taller than your mother now?"

"A little."

"You get that from me, I think." Kenzo nodded thoughtfully. "Your mothers family never had very tall men in it, I think."

Kiba didn't know his grandfather very well, but Kenzo was right on that account. His grandfather had been kind of short, but Kiba had chalked that up to old age and not genetics. "Oh...Well, I'm not super taller than mom. Just a few inches, maybe."

This felt...awkward. Forced, almost. Kenzo looked calm for the most part but Kiba could read his body language almost perfectly. There was hesitation, caution, and maybe even a little fear in the way the man sat. Arms close to his body even if his elbows rested on the table. Head cocked to the side, eyes locked on Kiba and following his every movement. It was like the man expected Kiba to lunge at him.

"I'm...only assuming you came to find me for a reason." Kenzo murmured slowly. When Kiba looked up at him he was sipping his tea, those dark eyes watching him. "Has something happened to your mother?"

Kiba couldn't help but blink in surprise, shaking his head a little. "Mom's fine." He replied, tone slightly more clipped than he had wanted it to be. "Everyone's fine."

"That's good." Kenzo set his tea cup down carefully before he folded his hands together on the table. "Then...what are you doing here, Kiba? After...so long, I mean. I didn't think to ever see you...here. For me, I mean. I didn't think I'd see you here for me, looking for me for any sort of reason."

"Yeah, well neither did anyone else." Kiba grunted softly, fists clenched in his lap. He looked around the kitchen, taking in the cozy, homey look to it. Some used dishes in the sink. The window open to let in what little breeze there was. He looked back at Kenzo and sighed softly. "I'm here for you. To talk."

Kenzo grunted softly, leaning back in his chair. "I always figured that if you came to talk it wouldn't be this late."

"Yeah, well, for some ungodly reason you've been on my mind for almost the entire past year." Kiba hissed out, eyes narrowing a little bit. "It's not like Mom ever talked about you and Hana was a kid when you just up and left. She wouldn't have the answers to the questions I had. The only option I had was finding you myself so I came here and I've been waiting for days for you to get back. So don't get snarky with me. If you stayed around instead of walking out on us in the first place this wouldn't even be happening."

Kenzo didn't seem surprised by Kiba's anger which was...a decent sign. He expected anger, didn't expect Kiba to suck it up and force himself to be civil. Thank god for that, at least. Kenzo took a breath and nodded slowly, clearing his throat. "You have every right to get answers, Kiba. So...alright. Whatever questions you have, I'll do my best to answer them. I just...don't know if they'll be the answers you might be hoping for."

With the permission to ask his questions granted Kiba suddenly found himself unable to decide what to ask first. He bit his lip and glanced down at the table, a million different questions racing through his head. "I...Fuck, man, I don't know where to start." He breathed, one hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Why did you leave? You..you had two kids and Mom and you just left. You came all the way here to Suna during a time of political stress because you knew no one from the Clan would come and drag you back. Why the fuck did you leave? Maybe I wasn't old enough for it to fuck me up right away but... _Hana_  was. And Mom."

Kenzo nodded slowly, bringing a hand up to push a few loose strands of hair out of his face. His hair hadn't been that long in the pictures Kiba had seen of him before. In the pictures it had been just long enough to be pulled into a tight, short ponytail. His hair was longer than Hana's now, though. It looked good, but made him look entirely different from what Kiba had been expecting. He leaned forward a little bit, clasping his hands together again. "There's...a lot tied into that question, Kiba. It...goes back a while. There's a lot to unload for that-"

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me." Kiba cut him off. This time it was his turn to cross his arms, leaning back in his chair as he felt his lips curl into a small scowl. "So I can sit here as long as I have to."

Blinking in surprise Kenzo scoffed softly, giving a small shake of his head. "You're exactly like your mom, aren't you?"

"I've been told so." Kiba muttered.

Kenzo seemed amused by that, at least. Kiba could let that slide, he supposed. The man shifted in his seat and nodded again, taking a breath as he took a second to think.

"Your mother and I...we practically grew up together. My parents were close friends with your mother's, so naturally we spent a lot of time together as children even before the academy. Your mother was...quite a girl, even then. Loud and crude, with no care for what other people thought about her. She brawled with boys twice our age and won almost all the time. She wasn't a trouble maker, of course; she just couldn't tolerate rude or snarky people. I was her complete opposite, really. I was shy and had a hard time talking to people, despite the fact that I was bigger than most kids our age." He smiled a little bit, a soft sort of smile that made Kiba's anger falter for just a minute. "That's why we were such good friends. She stuck up for me when I was younger. She did everything she could to make sure I knew how to defend myself. She has her own way of encouraging people, as you know, but...it was helpful. Nice, even. She was my best friend before she was anything else. We were inseparable."

Already, that was more information than Kiba could have hoped for. He didn't know his parents had been best friends in childhood, that there was a deeper bond between them. That made his mom's reluctance to talk about his dad make a ton more sense. They'd been best friends. You weren't supposed to hurt your best friend the way Kenzo had hurt Tsume.

"We ended up on different teams after we graduated at the academy, naturally." Kenzo continued, taking a long drink of his tea. "She ended up on the same team as Mikoto Uchiha and Kushina Uzumaki. Those three together...they were a mess." He chuckled a little bit, giving a small shake of his head. "Kushina was just as loud and brash as your mother and back in the day, Mikoto was almost as hot tempered and twice as easy to bait into things. We didn't see a lot of each other for a while because of missions and everything else. We made time for each other here and there, whenever we had free days that matched up with each other, but it wasn't until our chunin exams that our dynamic...changed." His smile had faltered now, his expression more somber than before. "She found me after my exam in the infirmary when I was bleedin' up a storm from my injuries and...well, you know your mom's special brand of pep-talks." He threw Kiba a small, amused smile.

Kiba snorted softly, glancing away. "Yeah...the ones where she's yelling at you more than talking." He knew those pep-talks very well.

"Exactly. She did just that, right there in the infirmary." Kenzo cackled softly, his smile softening before it slipped away all together. "One thing led to another, we were arguing and she told me she needed me to get stronger so she wasn't so afraid of losing me. Our first kiss was in the infirmary, me bleedin' like a dying man and your mom half way considering feeding me to the Inuzuka clan dogs. But...it was nice. She smelled like the earth after it rains, with a hint of something spicy that I only knew how to describe as...Tsume. A relationship with each other just seemed to come as easily to us as breathing. We thought it was what we were always meant to be in the end and we didn't question it because being...young and in love like everyone else was just...normal."

Kiba couldn't really pin point why hearing that made his heart ache. He never knew this about his mother, that she'd been so in love with her best friend. That she'd been scared for his life, so scared that she yelled at him in the infirmary while he was bleeding and kissed him like their lives depended on it. He didn't know things between them had been so intense, so deeply rooted. That there was so much  _history_  between the two. It made him ache for his mom's sake, more than anything. "It sounds like you guys were happy."

"We were. We were very happy." Kenzo replied, frowning a little bit as he stared down into his tea before looking back at Kiba. "We were young and stupid, though. Your mother got pregnant with Hana when she was barely seventeen because we were careless and we just...didn't think about what we were doing. For most clans that isn't very strange...Mikoto Uchiha got pregnant with her first son Itachi around the same time, after all. But Mikoto had planned to have her first son with her husband. We...didn't plan on Hana at all. Your mother's father was furious at first because we had been so careless...but the clan was there for your mother. We had Hana and everything was...alright. Your mother stayed home with her, stopped being active duty so she could raise your sister. I took on the role of providing for Hana and your mother for a while. The issue was that...we had constant pressure from your grandfather. We were unmarried, raising your sister in your clan's home. Your grandfather wanted us to get married."

That made Kiba sit up a bit more, frown deepening. "You two weren't married when you had Hana?"

Kenzo shook his head slowly. "No, we weren't."

Kiba bit his lip and nodded slowly. "When did you two get married?" Now that he thought about it, Kiba had never really heard his mom ever refer to Kenzo as her husband. If they weren't married then it would explain why Kiba had never been able to find wedding pictures the few times he tried looking. But why hadn't his mom told him before?

"We didn't." Kenzo told him slowly, sitting up straighter now. "That's where our problems really started. You...you were born when Hana was six. By then we had six years of your grandfather telling us to get married, over and over. When you were a baby Tsume finally...told me she wanted to get married. Not just because of your grandfather but because she loved me and it sounded...like the next step for us. She said it sounded logical, like it was something we should have already done because...we were in love. But I didn't want to get married."

Kiba blinked a couple of times as the man's words sunk in. "You didn't want to marry her."

"Not then." Kenzo murmured.

"But...but you loved her, didn't you?" Kiba demanded, nails digging into his own palms. "You had two kids with her!"

Kenzo sighed again, a tired and almost hesitant sounding sigh. As if he didn't want to have to explain this part, but he knew Kiba wouldn't drop it. "I did love your mother, Kiba. I loved her with all my heart but...I couldn't imagine us spending the rest of our lives together. Before Hana was born I wanted to travel, see the world...there was so much I wanted to do before the idea of getting married ever popped into my head. But then Hana was born and I...I couldn't leave your mom alone like that even if I was scared out of my mind. I loved Hana so much, she...she was like a blessing in my life. You were, too, Kiba. I loved you so much. But I...I never wanted to be a young father, not when I didn't even know a damn thing about myself. I loved all three of you but I felt like an outsider. Like I was living a lie and it wasn't fair to you or your sister or your mother. I...couldn't marry her. I loved her but...but the more time went on and the more I realized how unhappy I was I just...started to realize I wasn't  _in love_  with her by the time you were born. That doesn't mean I didn't love you and your sister. I loved you both so much. Holding the both of you the days you were both born were the best days of my life."

Kiba felt angry, partially for his mother's sake and partially for his own and Hana's. It sounded insane to him to hear someone say that. To say that they stopped being in love with some one. His nails were digging into his palms so hard that they were breaking skin, drawing blood underneath of them. He saw Kenzo eye him, as if trying to figure out what he was thinking, and then Kiba finally let out a growl under his breath. "How do you just...stop being in love with the woman you started a family with?"

"We were young, Kiba." Kenzo murmured as he stood up. He grabbed his tea cup from the table and walked to the sink, rinsing it out carefully. "When you're young and in love for the first time you  _always_  think it's going to last forever. For some people it does. Some people fall in love when they're young and that love lasts until the day they die...but some people aren't like that. Some people fall in love and a few years down the road they don't have those same feelings. Just...they don't always have kids when those feelings fade. I had you and Hana and I tried to be the father you both needed but it got too hard to sit around and play house when your mom and I were always arguing...were always angry and upset. When your mom found out I wasn't in love with her anymore it...broke her heart, Kiba. At that point all we did was argue and fight and it just...leaving felt like the right thing to do for you and your sister. You didn't deserve to be caught in the middle of our problems." He shut the sink off and turned so he could look at Kiba again, leaning back against the counter.

Kiba's frown turned into a scowl. Sure, he could see where his dad was coming from. Splitting up to keep Kiba and Hana from being caught in the middle of endless fighting was almost right for his parents to do, but there were still more facts to throw back at him. Things that didn't sit well with him. Kiba shot to his feet, knocking his chair down in the process and slamming his fists into the table. "You could have come back. You didn't have to come back for Mom, just...just for us! For  _Hana_ , at least! She was nine when you left! She had nine years of memories with you and you just walked out and didn't even come back! Didn't...didn't you ever wonder what happened to us? Didn't you...didn't you want to see us again and find out what we were doing? You could have come back to just  _see us_!"

Kenzo's eyes widened a bit. Maybe he was surprised by Kiba's tone, or maybe he was worried about what he would say next. Kiba really didn't know and he didn't care about how the other man felt. He only cared that he got his point across and that the man gave him an answer. Anything at all. Anything was better than the years of silence. He stared Kenzo down, his anger building with every passing second, and Kenzo finally spoke up in a softer tone that had Kiba's anger fumbling.

"Of course I wanted to see you and your sister. I thought about you two constantly after I left..." He said quietly. He pushed away from the counter and walked towards Kiba, bending down to pick Kiba's chair up and fix it. He took a breath and met Kiba's gaze, a small and tired frown on his lips. "The political issues between Suna and Konoha made it hard enough to even move here, trying to get to Konoha to see you two would have been a nightmare. And...I just figured it was better in the end if I stayed away. If your mom saw me who knows what would have gone down. And...it just got too late at one point. I kept track of every birthday I missed...before I knew it you were eighteen and I felt like it would be...bad to go and see you after that long. I sort of figured that if you or Hana ever wanted to see me you'd...well, find me. But I never thought you'd actually want to see me."

"That...that's so stupid." Kiba growled out, taking a step back so there was just a little more distance between the both of them. "When Gaara became Kazekage there was nothing stopping you from coming to Konoha! There was no political stress or strain when Gaara became the Kazekage. You can't honestly expect me to sit here and accept what you just told me!" He was thankful for the space he put between them, however small it was; he wanted to hit the man with all he had. He was pretty sure Gaara wouldn't have been too happy if he did. "You...you didn't stay away because you thought it was better for  _us_. It was better for  _you_! You stayed because you're a coward!"

It felt good to say, like a part of his stress had lifted off of his shoulders as soon as the words finally left his lips. Kenzo looked more surprised and taken back than before. Kiba wanted to say his expression turned guilty, if that's what the averted eyes and deepened frown meant. Kenzo took a step towards him and Kiba took one back, frowning, and Kenzo met his gaze as he took a hesitant breath. "...A lot of adults are cowards, Kiba. I don't think I can say anything else that would change your opinion on me. I left you and Hana and your mother...and I didn't come back even though I had the chance."

"All this...this bullshit talk about not wanting to be a father..." Kiba hissed, throwing his hand in the direction of the hall. "What about those pictures? The ones of you and those kids? Are they yours?"

"Not by blood, no." Kenzo murmured with a more hesitant tone of voice. "My wife was a widow when I met her. Her children were young...I raised them with her..."

"And yet you couldn't even show up once to check on the kids you  _made_?" Kiba snarled loudly. "One time! That's all you had to do! You just had to show up  _once_  and act like we mattered at all! It doesn't matter if you tell me you loved us back then when we were little, it doesn't change the fact that you left and you didn't even try to come back! No letters! No explanation! You left me and Hana in the dark, and you left Mom alone!"

All his work trying to keep his emotions in check was failing and he really couldn't find it in him to care. He was furious. At his sides, his fists clenched and unclenched as he breathed in sharply through grit teeth. Kenzo was looking at him wearily, but Kiba was trained enough to see that the man was bracing himself, as if preparing for Kiba to lunge at him. Would he fight back? If Kiba hit him would he hit Kiba back? Would Kankuro have to rush in and tear them apart and add that to Kiba's ever growing list of fuck ups? Would punching his dad to defend his mom's honor really be considered a fuck up?

"You...you didn't even care." Kiba choked out finally, when his voice wasn't clawing its way up his throat. He had to force himself to back up, though. They were still too close. He backed up until his back hit the kitchen wall, looking down at his feet to give himself a break from his father's frown. "Mom...she never got with anyone else. She's never dated anyone, never showed interest in anyone...she packed all your shit up in boxes and hid them away so she wouldn't have to look at any of it." He jerked his head up, lips curled up in another snarl. "You shouldn't have strung her along for so long if you stopped loving her! She loved you with all she had and you...you just kicked her aside because you couldn't handle anything! And...and you made me think I wasn't important, either! You...you have no idea how fucked up I am because of you! Because you made me feel like I wasn't loved enough and wasn't worth people's time! It doesn't matter that you tried to be a good dad because you weren't! A good dad wouldn't have walked out and never came back!"

It was painfully obvious that Kenzo didn't know what to say. He opened his mouth and then shut it, his grip on the chair tightening a little. Kiba was kind of glad. He didn't plan on being this angry, of course, but it felt so good to let it out, to see his father stumble and race to try and find the answers to his questions. He felt smug, sort of, even if being smug wasn't an attractive quality at all.

"Kiba..." Kenzo started, speaking slowly. "I'm sorry. I...don't have anything else to say that you'd like to hear. I've told you everything. Those...are the most honest answers I have and nothing else I could say could...make you feel any better."

" _Damn it_." Kiba hissed and shook his head quickly, raking his fingers though his hair. He pushed away from the wall and strode across the kitchen until he was so close to his father he was practically in his face. "You know what? Hana is one of the  _best_  animal medic-nins in the entire world. She created a vaccine for a dog flu no one in the world had seen before, that killed hundreds of dogs. She cured it. Because she's perfect at what she does. She's beautiful and strong and she's one of the most amazing women I know. And I..." He sucked in a breath. "I'm not that great or amazing but I've got a great team back home and a dog I love with all my heart. And I've got an entire group of friends that I love, who I would die for and would do the same for me! You wouldn't know any of this because you weren't there to see any of it! And you don't deserve to."

Crying wasn't in his plan either but he couldn't stop himself once the first tear fell. After last night he thought that just  _maybe_ he had cried all his tears out but that apparently wasn't the case, because he was fighting back the urge to flat out sob by now. He didn't want to give the man a chance to reply. He turned on his heel, marching towards the kitchen doorway.

"Kiba-"

"You know what?" Kiba paused to whirl around again, wiping roughly at his eyes a few times. "Mom was worried about me getting my hopes up about you. She was worried I would...build up some grand mental image of you and you know what? I think I did. I was so angry at the thought of you not caring about us that I was hoping you stayed away for some sort of noble reason. But you didn't. I got my hopes up for you and you let me down. But I should have known better. It doesn't matter if you say you loved us then because you didn't show it. If you loved us you would have made some sort of effort. So you know what? Screw you."

"Kiba!" Kenzo called after him but Kiba kept walking, shoulders shaking as he tried to fight back the sobs that wanted to tear from his throat. He didn't want to hear anything else. He  _couldn't_  hear anything else. Not now. He had his answers and that was all he needed.

Stepping out of Kenzo's house into the sunlight felt like he was emerging from the cave of a beast. His head was pounding, his lips trembling, and he felt like he was going to drop to his knees and throw up. He pulled the front door closed behind himself and stormed away from the house, storming right past Kankuro and Akamaru. He didn't want to pause to look at them, to see the pitiful, worried look he just knew Kankuro would have on his face. That wouldn't help right now. It would piss him off, or at least make him cry even harder than he already was and he didn't want to do that. He'd done enough crying already. He was still surprised he had any tears left at all in his body after last night in the first place. Looking at Kankuro right now wasn't going to help at all, he was sure.

But trying to rush away from Kankuro when the other knew he was crying...well, that wasn't going to be easy at all, either.

"Kiba! Hey, wait!"

Kankuro caught up to him almost instantly, grabbing onto his wrist and yanking him to a stop. Kiba grit his teeth, staring down at the sand through watery eyes. "Let  _go_."

"I'm not letting you run off when you're upset." Kankuro murmured, gripping Kiba's wrist tighter. "If you want to lock yourself in your room at the house than that's fine. But I'm not going to let you run off in the middle of the village. I don't want you to run off when you're feeling all messed up."

Kiba couldn't be angry about that. It was actually really sweet, in a way, and if last night hadn't gone the way it did he might have even been a little romanced by that. But he was drained, upset, and his mind was racing with so many thoughts that they were almost incomprehensible. A part of him just really wanted to go to sleep and the other part of him wanted to curl up and cry until he was  _finally_ out of tears.

He took in a shaky breath and looked over his shoulder. Sure enough, Kankuro looked just as worried about him as Kiba expected him to be. When their eyes met his expression softened just a little bit though, and he stepped closer so he could sigh and let go of Kiba's wrist. "I promise I won't bother you or anything at the house...just at least let me get you there, alright?"

"...Yeah." Kiba said softly, nodding after a moment of hesitation. "Sure."

He sort of missed Kankuro's touch on his wrist but he didn't want to say that out loud. Even if he knew Kankuro would hold his hand without question he would feel...dirty asking him to do that. Especially after last night, after everything they said to each other. It would feel like he was taking advantage of Kankuro's feelings, using them for his own comfort after breaking Kankuro's heart the way he had last night. So instead of reaching out to hold the other's hand he shoved his own hands into his pockets. He kept his eyes straight ahead. He knew they were red and puffy but at least for now the tears had stopped and that...well, that was good. If he could just make it to his room...

"Was it that bad?"

Kiba looked over at Kankuro only to see that the other wasn't looking at him. Kankuro had his eyes straight ahead, maybe unsure if he wanted to look at Kiba in the first place. Kiba frowned and looked away, shrugging even though Kankuro couldn't see it. "It was exactly what I thought it would be. So yeah, it was that bad."

"I'm sorry, Kiba."

"Don't apologize." Kiba muttered softly. Akamaru whined at his side, worried and anxious and wanting nothing more than to cuddle up with Kiba and make him feel better. That was a comforting thought, at least.

Kankuro sighed and Kiba noticed they were walking closer now, like Kankuro had veered closer to him. The puppet master glanced at him and their eyes met and finally, since the first time that day, Kiba saw that familiar affection in those dark eyes, even if there was a sadness there too. "Kiba, I told myself I wasn't going to bring this up because you're...having a hard time but I...I didn't mean what I said last night. When I said you were like him. I didn't mean it. You're not like him at all."

Kiba had been more worried that he was like his father than he had ever wanted to admit. Hearing how easily his father seemed to fall out of love when things got hard...well, it made sense that Kiba would feel like he was the same way. When things looked bleak in regards to both Hinata and Naruto, Kiba had dropped his feelings almost instantly. There similarities were, in a way, uncanny. But when Kiba stared at Kankuro, listening to his apology and taking in the way those eyes seemed to bleed sincerity, Kiba found it hard to believe he could fall out of love with him. There was no way he could, not with the way his heart banged against his rib cage just from listening to Kankuro talk. This wasn't like with Hinata or Naruto. This was different and he wasn't going to fall so fast out of love with him. There wasn't any way he was like his dad, at least not in that aspect. Even when he left and went back home he knew his feelings weren't going to change so easily.

Kiba tore his eyes away, looking ahead again. "Yeah, you're right; I'm not like him at all." He agreed softly.

There were things he had to say, things he and Kankuro had to talk about and clear up before Kiba could go home. But he was drained. Too drained, even, to bring it up. He needed to rest. He needed to lock himself in his room for a while with Akamaru, maybe cry his eyes out until he felt calm enough to talk to Kankuro again. That was if Kankuro even wanted to talk about it, that is. It was one thing for him to be a good friend, to follow him here and keep an eye on him so he can make sure Kiba stays safe. But it would be a different thing for them to get emotional, for them to talk about things and for Kiba to try and explain himself a little better than he had before.

He needed to be calm and he wasn't sure how long that was going to take.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll try to get the next part posted as soon as I can. Thanks, guys. Kudos, comments, etc.  
> Follow my [Tumblr](http://my-tatteredwingsof-freedom.tumblr.com/)


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